MPD officer starts nonprofit to help ex-offenders get back on their feet

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It's a vicious cycle: All too often, people who get caught breaking the law end up in trouble again. They lose their driver's licenses, can't get or keep a job, end up buried in court fees and fall back into the same pattern of crime.

That's what happened to Otis Jones, who says DUI charges from 15 years ago continue to haunt him. He lost his license but says he needed to drive to keep his job and kept getting slapped with more jail time and more fines.

"I just wish by some means necessary I could get my license back and be back in society," Jones said. "Even though I wasn't drinking anymore, every time I happened to get stopped, I'd get charged with a habitual charge, it kept going up and up."

And in a city already plagued with crime and violence, Perfect Harmony formed to try to give people like him a second chance, helping them get their driver's licenses reinstated, criminal records expunged and find jobs even with felonies on their records.

"We really want to see the community moving in a positive direction, and we're trying to take control of that narrative. And we're doing that not just through words, but through actions," Perfect Harmony director Detective Therman Richardson said.

After two years, Remarious Tabb finally has his license again.

"I got my life back," he said. "Get a job and drive without having to look in the rearview mirror."

He's looking forward to a new job and a new start so he can be the father his son deserves.

"It's my life, so I've got to make sure I'm straight so he can be straight."